Blackness is not simply a reactionary title or identity; that is indeed the "negative" way of characterizing African American identity. — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“Obama had always to field demands from some blacks to be blacker, and the wish of many whites to whitewash the story… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
The demonizing of black identity is much more of a global phenomenon than many would like to admit. I've traveled abroad extensively,… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
Blackness also has positive dimensions, those that bear the political meanings of African American people, among other blacks, who have struggled for… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
We come from a proud tradition of people who have insisted that none of us can be truly successful until at least… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
There are huge divorces and divides and chasms in black America between the have-gots and the have-nots, between the monied and the… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
The emphasis on personal responsibility is something we've had in black America from the get-go. Every major leader and intellectual worth her… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
We should not be post-racial: seeking to get beyond the uplifting meanings and edifying registers of blackness. Rather, we should be post-racist:… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
When white supremacy becomes institutional, it begins to harm the very people who are not simply outside of it because of their… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
Whiteness itself is artifice, is fiction, is a construction, is narrative, is myth. And I seek to deconstruct all of that, to… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“If our neighbors were white, they’d be victims of the same crime that plagues black folk. You are right, however, about those… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
Ironically, there is a history of black/Irish communion here in the states; Irish and African American brothers and sisters have often found… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
It is extremely interesting to me that black males, and other black folk, are viewed as self-pitying, by either other blacks who… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
There is not a history of black intellectuals being allied with dominant forces to hold white people in social and cultural subordination… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“Beloved, to be white is to know that you have at your own hand, or by extension, through institutionalized means, the power… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“There is a big difference between the act of owning up to your part in perpetuating white privilege and the notion that… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“Beloved, to be black in America is to live in terror. That terror is fast. It is glimpsed in cops giving chase… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
White privilege allows a certain kind of leisure that can be deployed by white people of advantage toward our restoration. That's all… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
The consequences of whiteness are particularly lethal right now. And the ignorance about it, especially on the part of white people themselves,… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
I think that not only do saints make poor role models, they are incapable in one sense of identifying radically with those… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
You cannot hear the name Martin Luther King, Jr., and not think of death. You might hear the words 'I have a… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“Working as a white ally is tough, but certainly not impossible. Learning to listen is a virtue that whiteness has often avoided.… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
New Orleans invented the brown paper bag party - usually at a gathering in a home - where anyone darker than the… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“The most radical action a white person can take is to acknowledge this denied privilege, to say, “Yes, you’re right. In our… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
We must continue to insist to our better off brothers and sisters that they are in the same racial boat as their… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
What disturbs or assures us about race has very little to do with blood or biology. Race is about how you use… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
I'm just challenging white supremacy at its intellectual heart every day. It's a pedagogy that I deploy against some of the most… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
Jeremiah Wright is one of the greatest prophetic preachers that black America has produced. What I find striking is that many white brothers and… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
What are you for? It may be, to a degree, consoling that white brothers and sisters did not vote for [Donald] Trump, and do… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
I went to school four years later than most people because I was a teen father, hustled on the streets, worked, lived on welfare… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
It is true that race is a social fiction, a myth perpetuated by a variety of peoples throughout the modern period, especially, to further… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
I've written a lot of other books and this book [Tears we cannot stop] was different. I couldn't just say what I wanted to… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
“And there is a paradox that many of you refuse to see: to get to a point where race won’t make a difference, we… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
Elvis [Presley] had a stepstool, if you will, to success because he came from the dominant culture. They identified with him. Michael Jackson had… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
I believe in a God of a second chance and a God of love and mercy, because I need so much more of it… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed levees and exploded the conventional wisdom about a shared American prosperity, exposing a group of people so poor they didn't have… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
I was very struck when Min. Farrakhan said if Jesus and Muhammad were here today, they'd be embracing each other. That's a tremendous message… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
“O! save us, we pray thee, thou God of Heaven and of earth, from the devouring hands of the white Christians!!! . . .… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
We can't exempt ourselves from the same moral calculus that we are willing to apply to others. — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
New Orleans invented the brown paper bag party - usually at a gathering in a home - where anyone darker than the bag attached… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
“Whiteness is an advantage and privilege because you have made it so, not because the universe demands it.” — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
I'm just challenging white supremacy at its intellectual heart every day. It's a pedagogy that I deploy against some of the most vicious resistance… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share
